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Outdoor play activities 'could reduce nearsightedness'

Participation in outdoor play activities could reduce the incidences of nearsightedness in children, reports the Denver Chronicle.

The newspaper cites a study which claims that playing outdoors for 14 hours a week or more can reduce a child's chance of developing nearsightedness, also known as myopia, by 40 per cent.

This idea has also previously been explored in a study by Dr Kathryn Rose on Science Daily, which used data collected from more than 4000 Australian schoolchildren. It found that "the lowest myopia rates in 12-year-olds were associated with high outdoor activity", regardless of how much near work activity undertaken, which is said to negatively affect eyesight.

Dr Michael Taravella from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in reference to the latest study, said: "They looked at genetic tendencies and found that the environmental factor, playing outdoors, seemed to override that tendency at least for mild degrees of nearsightedness."

He added that although no clear reason for this has been identified yet, it may have something to do with transmitters within the retina that are affected by light.